Ohio quintet At The Throne of Judgment's molten metal attack may not be as menacing as Nile, yet both bands work in songs about ancient mythology on the 11-track THE ARCANUM ORDER. This act, with members all under 20 years old, demonstrate a dazzling array of musical chops ("Tomb of the Thracians") while blurring the edges between At The Gates, The Black Dahlia Murder, and black and death metal well enough to make tracks like "Mariner's Cutlass" sound as face-ripping as any of the aforementioned's countless admirers. Problem is that throughout the course of THE ARCANUM ORDER, it's hard to ascertain what ATTOJ needs to do to break from the pack of contenders when they strictly follow the sounds of the new metal regime's well-tread paths.www.riserecords.com
- Mike SOS